Artist Gwen Murphy Turns Old Shoes into Expressive Faces

Contemporary abstract artist Gwen Murphy creatively upcycles old pairs of unwanted shoes into personified faces in her artwork series, ‘Foot Fetish.’ The series features numerous pairs of different shoes that Murphy has collected and playfully turned into different quirky faces.

Murphy’s unique shoe sculptures use the long shape of the shoe sole as the face structure and the front of the shoe as a clever headpiece. She upcycles old pairs of Converse sneakers, ballet flats, high-heels and ballet shoes by covering them by hand in fabric paint. Inside the shoe she places hand-carved pieces of wood with interesting animal and human faces. Murphy’s abstract face characters look like they’d have some interesting personalities if they were to magically come to life.